PP 2065 

c=° y C i THE teaching of 

ELEMENTARY LATIN 


BY 


WILBERT Lf CARR 




PROFESSOR OF LATIN AND OF THE TEACHING OF LATIN, 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 


EDITOR OF THE NEW HEATH LATIN SERIES 


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a 

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D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY 


i . 

BOSTON 

NEW YORK 

CHICAGO 

ATLANTA 

SAN FRANCISCO 

DALLAS 


LONDON 



Gopyright, 1929, 

By D. C. Heath and Company 



PRINTED IN U.S.A. 

©CIA 


13071 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


The term “elementary Latin” is generally understood to 
mean that portion of the Latin course which precedes and 
prepares for the reading of the first classical author. In 
actual practice “Elementary Latin” as a designation of a 
high-school subject or as the title of a textbook is commonly 
considered synonymous with “ First Year Latin.” A glance 
at the list of beginners’ Latin books published during the 
past few years will show that “Elementary Latin” has been 
a favorite among titles. Other commonly used titles are 
“First Latin Book,” “First Year Latin” and “Latin for 
Beginners,” but they are all “elementary Latin” books in 
the general sense of that term. 

Until quite recently each of these elementary Latin 
books commonly included what its author believed to be the 
“essential ” elements of grammatical forms and constructions, 
a selected vocabulary of some six or eight hundred Latin 
words to be learned by rote, and a series of translation “ex¬ 
ercises,” the chief object of which is to give the pupil drill in 
applying and perfecting his knowledge of the “essential” 
forms and constructions. 

Naturally there has never been entire agreement among 
authors of elementary Latin books as to which were essential 
and which were unessential grammatical elements. The 
general tendency, however, for the past 20 years especially, 
has been in the direction of reducing the total number of 
forms and constructions which are considered essential and 
which are therefore assigned to be mastered in the portion 
of the course devoted to elementary Latin. 

Our grandfathers — and their fathers before them — 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


learned the whole of a Latin grammar “by heart” before 
attempting to apply their knowledge to the reading or 
writing of Latin as a language. Perhaps some of our grand¬ 
fathers who undertook this task had the aid of Allen and 
Greenough’s “A Method of Instruction in Latin Grammar,” 
being (in the words of the subtitle) “ A Companion and Guide 
in the Study of Latin Grammar.” Perhaps some of our 
fathers were fortunate enough to begin their study of Latin 
with that excellent pair of books, Gildersleeve’s “Latin 
Primer” and his “Latin Reader,” published in 1875. But 
most of our fathers — and most of us, I suspect — learned 
our elementary Latin from a Collar and Daniell’s “The 
Beginner’s Latin” or from one of its many successors and 
imitators. 

The elementary Latin books of this earlier period were all 
quite similar in that they all professed to prepare in forms, 
syntax, and vocabulary for the reading of Csesar. They were 
alike also in offering “exercises” for translation from 
Latin to English and from English to Latin which used the 
language of war and were based on episodes in Csesar Cam¬ 
paigns in Gaul. Little or no attempt was made to secure 
any immediate educational returns for the time and energy 
spent in the study of Latin. The value of Latin for English 
was sometimes claimed in the preface, but the attainment 
of this value was left to chance or to the initiative and 
ingenuity of the pupil or teacher. Practice in reading Latin 
or translating Latin was limited largely to the disconnected 
and all but meaningless sentences given in the “exercises.” 
If any connected reading material was included in these 
books, it was usually limited to selected passages from the 
unmodified text of Cesar’s Gallic Wars. These elementary 
Latin books, I repeat, ere clearly intended as a preparation 
for Csesar and were w itten and published to meet the sup¬ 
posed needs of pupils who expected to follow the traditional 
Latin course for four years in preparatory school and then 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


go to college — where the real educational values in the 
study of Latin might at last be secured! This was the point 
of view held by representative teachers of the classics when 
the Report of the Committee of Ten Was formulated in 1893. 
This Committee said in so many words that the secondary 
school teacher should not concern himself overmuch with 
the ultimate cultural values of the study of Latin; that 
these things should be left to the colleges. 

Beginning, however, some twenty years ago a new type of 
elementary Latin book began to appear. An analyses of 
these books shows, for one thing, that their authors realized 
more or less clearly that educational returns should not all 
be deferred until some later point in the high school or 
college course. They also seem to have recognized the fairly 
obvious fact that the secondary schools of the country were 
no longer made up almost exclusively of boys and girls who 
expected to complete the high school course and then go on 
to college. They realized further that the competition 
among school subjects had become so keen that many pupils 
who began the study of Latin only to find it meager in 
educational satisfactions were dropping the course at the 
end of one or two years and, furthermore, that younger 
pupils were following the advice of these disappointed 
older pupils and were not electing Latin at all. 

In the elementary Latin books of this period, therefore, 
you will find definite effort to interest the pupil in the study 
of Latin. This effort is directed especially to helping pupils 
to see and to make practical use of the relationship existing 
between Latin and English in matters of vocabulary and 
grammar. You will find also a marked advance in the 
effort to teach something of classical culture especially 
through pictures dealing with Greek and Roman life, tradi¬ 
tions and mythology. Chiefly to add interest, perhaps, but 
also undoubtedly to encourage on the part of the pupil a 
reading attitude toward his Latin, short stories in easy Latin 

3 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


are occasionally inserted in the body of the text or given as 
supplementary material at the end of the book. 

Several of these books first published about twenty years 
ago are still in use either in the original or in revised form. 
All of these books have one, fault in common. They are 
all too bulky; they all contain more material than can possi¬ 
bly be satisfactorily completed in one year by the typical 
ninth-grade class of the high school of today. This is due in 
part to the fact that teaching devices good in themselves 
and reading selections valuable and even absolutely essential, 
if the pupils are to learn to read Latin, have in these books 
been added to the extensive grammatical material which was 
found in the typical elementary Latin book of the earlier 
type. 

Z And at the same time a change has been going on in the 
quality of the pupils in the secondary schools. It is undoubt¬ 
edly true that the average ninth-grade pupil of today is below 
the average ninth-grade pupil of a generation ago in general 
ability, in cultural background, in his training in English 
grammar and his willingness to learn a lesson in Latin or in 
any other subject just because he is told to do so. The day 
when the “learn-it-darn-you” method can be successfully 
used in teaching Latin has certainly passed, if it ever existed. 
Common prudence has taught the teacher of Latin that he 
must give his pupil intellectual satisfactions and show him 
the obvious connection between the work which he is asked 
to do in learning his Latin and those knowledges, abilities, 
or skills which he will need in his life experience. In other 
words, the teacher of Latin must find in the original or the 
newly created interests of his pupil a motive for the hard 
intellectual work which he expects him to do in studying 
elementary Latin. Th( teacher can no longer trust solely to 
parental or other pressure to get pupils to elect Latin or to 
hold them in the Latin course year after year, once they have 
elected the subject. 


4 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


The publication of the “General Report of the Classical 
Investigation” in 1924 revealed the fact that at that time 
69 per cent of the pupils who began Latin dropped it at the 
end of the second year, if not before. The Report also dis¬ 
closed one cause of this situation when it revealed the fact 
that “the present content of the four-year Latin course as 
commonly found in the schools is too extensive in amount or 
too difficult in kind, or both, to provide a suitable medium 
for the satisfactory attainment of the objectives which were 
determined upon ... as valid for the course in secondary 
Latin” (The Classical Investigation, Part I, page 90). 

The congestion in the first year of the traditional four- 
year course was especially serious. It was the all but uni¬ 
versal testimony of teachers that two and a half or three 
semesters were really needed in the average class for the com- y 
pletion of the grammatical material commonly included in 
the typical “first-year” book. As a matter of fact, many 
teachers of Latin in regular four-year high schools had 
found it necessary to devote the first third or the first half 
of the second year of the Latin course to the completion of 
the elementary work traditionally prescribed for the first 
year. In some school systems the time needed for the com¬ 
pletion of the prescribed “first-year” work had been secured 
by lengthening the course downward into the eighth grade. 
In other words, the work of “elementary Latin” had pretty 
generally ceased to be identical with “first-year Latin” 
in schools where books of the older type were still used. 

Within the past five years, several elementary Latin books 
of a new type have appeared. While each of these books 
contains a large amount of reading material, Jt is never¬ 
theless possible for the whole book to be completed by the 
average ninth-grade class within two semesters, because 
many of the forms and constructions which the authors of 
the older type of book considered “essential” in the first 
year’s work have been omitted from books of this new type. 

5 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


In particular the study of the subjunctive, of the gerund and 
gerundive, of conditional sentences, and of many of the 
irregular verbs is not included. The omission of this ma¬ 
terial from the work of the first year obviously means that 
provision must be made for it later in the course. The 
result has been the creation of a new type of second-year 
book in which provision is made for the teaching in the 
second year those grammatical “essentials” which have 
been omitted from the first-year book. The reading ma¬ 
terial used in the first part of a second-year book of this type 
must necessarily be adapted to the ability of the pupils who 
have not even been exposed to some of the commonly used 
Latin forms and constructions — those of the subjunctive, 
for example. The first reading material in such a second- 
year book must consist therefore of “made” or adapted 
Latin — easier in character than the text of Caesar. The 
latter part of the second-year book of this type contains 
selections from Caesar’s Gallic War and perhaps from other 
comparatively easy classical authors. In other words, the 
day of the “two-book series” seems to have arrived. 

There are several such “two-book series” already on the 
market. There is still some confusion and lack of agree¬ 
ment — as perhaps there will always be — as to how much 
grammatical material should be mastered in the first year’s 
work and just what topics can better be postponed to the 
second year. In any case, the authors of these two-book 
series seem to realize that it is much better that only so 
much grammatical material be attempted in the first year 
as can be completed easily and well rather than to include 
in the first-year course so much material that it will be nec¬ 
essary for the teacher to xert undue pressure and the class 
to make undue haste in n effort to “cover the ground.” 

The new definition of r oquirements in Latin adopted by the 
College Entrance Examination Board in April, 1926, removed 
the chief obstacle in the way of reorganizing the Latin 

6 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


course for the first two years and indeed for the whole sec¬ 
ondary course. The new definition issued by the College 
Entrance Examination Board is being accepted by colleges 
and other standardizing agencies. The teacher of Latin is 
therefore now in a position to make such modifications in 
the content of the course and in the methods of teaching 
to be employed as he believes will yield the greatest re¬ 
turn to his pupils in educational values. 

AIMS OR OBJECTIVES* 

It is not always easy for a teacher of Latin to remember 
that he is not really a teacher of Latin. He is really (if he is 
a true teacher) a teacher of boys and girls. He teaches 
boys and girls ( direct object ) certain desirable knowledges, 
abilities, skills, habits, attitudes, and ideals (. secondary ob¬ 
ject) by means of Latin ( ablative of the instrument). 

The teacher s objectives. What are some of these desirable 
knowledges, abilities and skills? And can Latin be so 
taught as to help the pupils to a greater attainment of these 
knowledges, abilities and skills than would be possible with¬ 
out the study of Latin? The following list includes some 
of the more important educational objectives which it is 
commonly believed can be attained through and in con¬ 
nection with the study of elementary Latin. For a detailed 
discussion of the validity of these objectives, see the Classical 
Investigation, Part I, pages 29-82. 

1. An increased ability to understand the exact meaning of 
English words derived directly or indirectly from Latin, 
and an increased accuracy in their use. 

* Certain paragraphs on this and the following pages are taken with 
the permission of the publishers from the author’s chapter on “The 
Teaching of Latin in the Junior High School” in Volume XII of The 
Classroom Teacher , published by The Classroom Teacher, Inc., Chicago 
( 1927 ). 


7 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


2. An increased ability to understand Latin abbreviations, 
words, phrases, and quotations occurring in English. 

3. An increased ability to spell English words of Latin deriva¬ 
tion. 

4. An increased understanding of the principles of English 
grammar and an elementary knowledge of the general 
principles of language structure. 

5. An increased ability to speak and write correct and effec¬ 
tive English through an increased understanding of the 
meaning of English words, through an increased under¬ 
standing of the principles of English grammar, and through 
training in adequate translation. 

6. The development of an historical perspective and of a gen¬ 
eral cultural background through an increased knowledge 
of facts relating to the mythology, traditions, history, and 
institutions of the Romans. 

6- 7. The development of those attitudes toward social situations 
which make for better school and state citizenship. 

3. The development of certain desirable habits and ideals 
which are subject to spread; such as habits of sustained 
attention, orderly procedure, perseverance, accuracy, and 
thoroughness. 

> 9. The development of the habit of discovering identical 
elements in different situations and experiences and of 
making true generalizations on the basis of these discoveries. 

The Pupil's Motives. As indicated in the above list of 
objectives, Latin should be so taught that it will definitely 
help the pupil to attain certain desirable knowledges, abili¬ 
ties, skills, habits, attitudes, and ideals which will be useful 
to him in his immediate and future life experiences. The 
pupil’s interest in Latin m usually be easily and fruitfully 
aroused in the closely related field of English. For example, 
from the very first day’s study of Latin the pupil can be 
shown the close relation which exists between the new Latin 

8 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


words he is learning and English words with which he is 
more or less familiar. He will also be interested in learning 
how to apply the facts learned in Latin to increasing his 
understanding of less familiar English words and the mys¬ 
teries of English grammar and sentence structure. Some 
suggestions of ways to do this will be found on pages 17-22. 

Another important field of interest to pupils beginning 
the study of Latin is an increased appreciation of the rich 
inheritance which we moderns have received from Greece 
and Rome, in art and architecture, for example, or in gov¬ 
ernmental and social institutions. Such a book as Otis’ 
OUR ROMAN LEGACY (Heath and Co., 1926) will be 
found a helpful source of suggestion for work along this line. 

However, one of the most important sources of interest 
for the pupil is to be found in the use of the Latin language 
itself — in the pupil’s desire to learn how the Romans said 
things and to try himself to do as the Romans did. Strangely 
enough, many teachers fail to make any effort to satisfy this 
perfectly natural curiosity on the part of the pupil, and in 
far too many instances the pupil’s budding interest in Latin 
as a language is killed by the teacher’s interest in facts about 
the language; when the pupil asks for the bread of living 
speech, he is given a stone of grammar and syntax. 

While the pupil’s own motive or motives for undertaking 
the study of Latin will prove the best basis for securing at 
the very start the pupil’s interest and cooperation, without 
which teaching is impossible, the skillful teacher will in a 
short time be able to create in each of his pupils (if it is not 
already there) some interest in one or more of the ultimate 
objectives at which he himself is aiming. This will not be a 
difficult thing to do, if the teacher’s objectives are really 
valid and if he can make it apparent to his pupils that 
through the various class-room activities they are making 
daily progress toward the attainment of some one or more 
of these objectives. 


9 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


MATERIALS AND METHODS 

What to teach and how. Having decided upon those educa¬ 
tional objectives which he believes are valid for the pupils 
in his class, the teacher’s next concern is to discover and to 
turn into classroom activities those materials and methods 
which he believes will be most effective in assisting his 
pupils to the attainment of those objectives. 

Evaluating a given class-room activity. The value of any 
classroom activity carried on by the individual pupil or by 
the class as a whole, or the value of any continuation of 
that activity carried on by the pupils in independent study 
depends upon the extent to which that activity contributes 
directly or indirectly (through the materials or method 
employed) to the attainment of one or more of the legitimate 
educational objectives of the subject being taught. 

Direct and indirect contributions. There are certain knowl¬ 
edges, abilities and skills which must be acquired in the 
learning of Latin, but which contribute only indirectly to the 
attainment of any of those educational objectives which 
alone are the final justification and motivation of the study 
of Latin. For example, the ability to decline a Latin noun 
may have little or no direct educational value in itself. 
This ability however is necessary to the acquiring of other 
abilities and knowledges which do have direct value for the 
pupil. 

Again, learning to pronounce, spell, and attach meaning to 
a given Latin word may not seem to have any direct educa¬ 
tional value in itself. If, however, the Latin word being 
learned happens to be connected by derivation with one or 
more known English or Latin words and if the method em¬ 
ployed in teaching the jpil the meaning of the new Latin 
word is such as to de\ elop in the pupil the habit of and 
skill in using his knowledge of the meaning of a known 
word to discover the meaning of the new word, the mental 

10 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


processes involved will almost inevitably lead to the reverse 
process; namely, the use of the pupil’s knowledge of a Latin 
word to gain an understanding of an unfamiliar English word 
derived from it. And skill in this latter process would make 
a very great direct contribution to one of the most impor¬ 
tant objectives in the study of Latin; namely, the increased 
ability to understand the meaning of English words derived 
from Latin (Objective 1 on page 7). For example, the 
pupil who has been trained to use English capture or Latin 
capio as an aid in determining and retaining the meaning of 
Latin recipio will hardly fail to make use of his skill in 
word-analysis and his knowledge of the meaning of the 
common elements in the two words when he encounters for 
the first time such an English word as recipient. 

Unfortunately, therefore, for a clear-cut analysis of the 
educative processes,— but most fortunately for the processes 
themselves, — no sharp line can be drawn between those 
class-room activities which contribute directly and those 
which contribute indirectly to the attainment of most of the ^ 
educational objectives of every school subject. Perhaps it 
is largely because of this fact there is so much difference 
in opinion, not to say confusion, in regard to the whole ques¬ 
tion of “general discipline” and “transfer of training.” 

As far as the educative processes are concerned, there is no 
such thing as a “one-track mind.” 

What is Latin as a school subject? Ideally the study of 
Latin ought to and often does include a study of the lan¬ 
guage, literature, and life of the Romans and of the multi¬ 
form influences which each of these elements has had on 
western civilization. Latin literature as literature may, 
however, be studied in translation, and Roman life is after 
all a proper topic in Ancient History. But whatever is in¬ 
cluded in or excluded from the study of Latin the pupil 
must necessarily be concerned with Latin as a language. 
Therefore, a great many of the class-room activities will be 

11 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


devoted more or less directly to the progressive development 
of power to read and understand Latin as a language. 
Ability to write, speak, and understand Latin when spoken 
are rightly regarded as only so many helps toward learning 
to read Latin. The translation of Latin into English, though 
commonly justified on the basis of its value for training in 
English, is usually in practice only a kind of indirect method 
of reading Latin. Pronunciation, vocabulary, forms and 
syntax are obviously only convenient names for various 
closely inter-related elements entering into the complex of 
knowledges, skills and habits which we are here calling the 
ability to read and understand Latin. 

Most of the educational values accruing from the study of 
Latin are therefore to be secured as a result of and in con¬ 
nection with the various class-room activities which may 
seem to be directed primarily to the progressive develop¬ 
ment of power to read and understand Latin. 

For example, the acquiring of a large stock of meaningful 
Latin words is necessary both for the ability to read and 
understand Latin and for the attainment of Objectives 1, 2 
and 3 listed on pages 7 and 8. Again, a working knowledge 
of Latin grammar is essential to the ability to read Latin as 
well as to the attainment of Objective 4. Moreover, if the 
pupil has used rational methods in acquiring these elements 
of vocabulary, he will have gone far towards the attainment 
of Objective 9, which habit will in turn aid him in the at¬ 
tainment of Objectives 1, 2, 3 and 4. 

Educational values not necessarily assured. This is not to 
say that every pupil who makes fairly satisfactory progress 
in the development of ab ity to read and understand Latin 
is sure to gain thereby the legitimate educational values 
to be secured from th study of Latin. It does mean, 
however, that these values may and under proper methods 
of instruction will be attained concurrently with progressive 
development of power to read Latin and for the most part 

12 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


in connection with the class-room activities which make 
possible the development of that power. For example, the 
average pupil will need some definite guidance and much 
practice in the technique of applying a knowledge of Latin 
to a better understanding of English vocabulary or English 
grammar, but the drills organized for this specific purpose^, 
should have definite connection with the Latin words or con¬ 
structions being studied at the time. 


SOME CLASS-ROOM ACTIVITIES 

In the following pages will be found detailed suggestions 
in regard to methods of teaching the various elements 
which enter into the learning of elementary Latin. There 
also will be indicated definite ways in which the learning of 
these elements may be made to contribute definitely to the 
attainment of one or more of the ultimate educational ob¬ 
jectives listed on pages 7 and 8. 

Pronunciation. In learning to pronounce Latin, the pupil 
is forced to set up a new habit of oral response to familiar 
printed or written symbols. For example, the familiar 
syllable, sum is pronounced “sbom” in Latin and the phrases 
vice versa and et cetera become “we-ke wer-sa” and “et 
ka-te-ra” respectively. The pupil can best make his first 
steps in forming these new habits of pronunciation by imi¬ 
tating his teacher in the correct pronunciation of every new 
Latin word,. phrase, or sentence. A little later it will be 
necessary for the pupil to acquire an accurate working 
knowledge of the Latin sounds of the various consonants, 
vowels, and diphthongs and of the rules of syllabification and 
accent so that he can independently apply them to the 
pronunciation of new words as they appear in his reading. 

Fortunately Latin has phonetic spelling and there are no 
silent letters. Even so, it is necessary, especially at the 
beginning of the study, for the pupil to be given much drill 

13 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


in pronouncing Latin words, phrases, and sentences. The 
habit of responding with English sounds to the stimulus of 
familiar letters and syllables is very strong. The pupil 
should be warned especially to sound distinctly all the letters 
in a Latin word; for example, the two l’s in puel-la. He 
should remember also that a long vowel is sounded twice as 
long as a short vowel; for example, the e in the first syllable 
of mensa (which is pronounced more like English main , 
than like English men ) is given twice as much time as is 
given to the e in the first syllable of mentem. 

Writing Latin from dictation is a valuable form of drill 
in establishing an automatic connection between the old 
familiar English letters and their new Latin sounds. The 
pupil must learn “to see Latin with his ears and to hear 
Latin with his eyes.” At the beginning of the work all 
long vowels should be marked in all written work. Later 
on it is probably sufficient to require the marking of long 
vowels in the last and the next to last syllables only. 
Some very good teachers require their pupils to mark only 
those long vowels which affect the placing of the word accent 
(e.g., amicus) or those which indicate differences in meaning 
or in inflectional forms (e.g., latus as against latus; venit 
as against venit; mensa as against mensa). 

The marking of vowels is one of the points at which the 
overly conscientious teacher of Latin is in danger of making 
a too costly sacrifice to the great god Accuracy. On the 
other hand, it is quite necessary for the pupil to acquire a 
reasonably accurate pronunciation of Latin if he hopes to be 
understood by his teacher or fellow pupils. Moreover, the 
pupil must remember that words are not merely black marks 
on a white page or whit words on a black board. Words 
are primarily spoken sounds, and printed or written words 
are merely symbols intended to call forth these sounds. 
Furthermore, as a little experience will convince the pupil, 
merely trying to remember how a word looks on a page or 

14 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


whether this or that vowel is marked long is not a very satis¬ 
factory procedure. He will learn the word more quickly and 
remember it much longer if he will say it as well as see it. 

The attainment of Objective 3 depends in part upon the 
accurate pronunciation of Latin words. For example, the 
pupil who is careful to pronounce both of the c’s and both of 
the r’s in Latin oc-cur-ro is less likely to misspell English 
occurrence. Again, the correct Roman pronunciation of Latin 
incipio with the &-sound for c ought to keep a Latin pupil, 
in a moment of doubt, from deciding on insipient as the proper 
spelling for its English derivative. 

Oral Reading of Latin. As indicated in the preceding 
discussion, the pupil is only too prone to regard the printed 
Latin page as only black marks on white paper and so to 
attempt to “read” it with the eyes only, as if he were deaf 
and dumb. It is therefore imperative that much practice 
in oral reading and other forms of oral expression should 
precede any attempt at silent reading. The pupil should, 
therefore, do much of his studying of Latin “out loud.” 

Easy connected reading material in dialogue or story form 
is obviously more valuable for oral reading than discon¬ 
nected sentences. The pupil should be trained to group 
together in his reading those words which make up thought 
units, and to indicate by raising or lowering his voice which 
are the emphatic and which are the unemphatic words and 
phrases or which are the main and which are the subordi¬ 
nate or parenthetical clauses in a complex sentence. The 
learning of a part in a Latin play, the singing of Latin songs, 
and the giving of Latin answers to Latin questions are valu¬ 
able ways of overcoming the pupil’s vocal and auditionai 
dread of Latin and of securing for him a fair measure of 
fluency and flexibility in his oral reading of the Latin page. 

Understanding Latin when read. Ability to pronounce 
Latin words and ability to read Latin sentences and para¬ 
graphs with proper phrasing and emphasis are only first and 

15 




THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


second steps in the process of learning to “read” Latin in 
the sense in which the term is here being used. Though 
these are indispensable, the process cannot stop with them. 
The progressive development of power to read and understand 
Latin depends, of course, upon the acquirement of an in¬ 
creasingly accurate knowledge of the meaning of an in¬ 
creasingly large stock of Latin words and upon a working 
knowledge of the more important inflectional forms together 
with an understanding of the significance of these forms for 
Latin sentence structure. However, a very small stock of 
words and forms is all that is needed to begin practice in 
reading and understanding Latin. The meaning of new 
words, if these are not introduced too rapidly into the 
reading material, can often be inferred from the context 
or determined from their similarity to known Latin or English 
words. Abundant, meaningful, repetitious, well-graded, and 
interesting reading material must be an integral part of 
the course from the very beginning, if pupils are to develop 
and maintain a reading attitude toward Latin. 

If the content of this reading material is also such as to 
present facts about Roman history, traditions, and life and 
to place before the pupils Roman ideals of heroism and self- 
sacrifice, the reading of Latin will contribute directly to the 
attainment of Objectives 6 and 7. Special readings in 
English can very naturally and successfully be used to 
supplement the stories being read in Latin. For example, 
Macaulay’s Horatius from “Lays of Ancient Rome” can 
most appropriately be read in connection with a hero story 
in Latin about the brave “Captain of the Gate.” 

While it is as true of a foreign language as it is of one’s 
own that one learns to ?ad by reading, there is one very 
important difference between learning to read Latin and 
learning to read one’s own language. When the child 
begins to read his own language he already knows the gen¬ 
eral meaning of a great many spoken words and he has only 
16 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


to connect these familiar spoken words with their printed 
symbols to be able to use them in reading. It is an immense 
advantage to the pupil if this situation is approximated in 
the early stages of the study of Latin as far as class-room 
conditions permit. 

Vocabulary. A small initial stock of Latin nouns and 
verbs can effectively be taught to beginners through oral 
and objective methods, that is, by associating the spoken 
word with a class-room object or an action. The written 
Latin symbols can then be introduced and furnish material 
for drilling the pupil in pronouncing and writing Latin. 

Linking up each new Latin word, if possible, with a fa¬ 
miliar English derivative is another means of teaching and 
fixing Latin vocabulary. Having the pupil learn by rote 
the nearest English equivalents of a list of new Latin 
words, though it may seem to be the simplest and easiest 
way, is often the least effective way of teaching their mean¬ 
ings. Such a method offers too great a temptation to the 
pupil merely to substitute one verbal symbol for another 
without attaching meaning to either. This method should, 
therefore, be employed with beginners only when no other 
method seems available. 

After a small initial stock of Latin words has been ac¬ 
quired, the pupil should be encouraged to try to discover the 
meaning of new words as they occur through their similarity 
to known Latin or English words or through the context. 
Going to the vocabulary or dictionary for meaning should 
be the last resort rather than the first, as is so commonly the 
case. 

It may be noted here that the pupil who develops the 
habit of trying to discover the meanings of a new Latin word 
from a familiar related Latin or English word is training 
himself in a habit of word analysis which will lead directly 
to an increased ability to discover the exact meaning of 
English words derived from Latin, that is to say, to the 

17 




THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


/ 




attainment of Objective 1. This ability is perhaps the most 
important and most enduring educational value to be gained 
from the study of elementary Latin. Practice in word 
analysis will also help the pupil in attaining another im¬ 
portant educational objective, namely, the development of 
skill in discovering identical elements in different situations 
and experiences and of making true generalizations on the 
basis of these discoveries (Objective 9). 

Inflectional forms. The old formal method of teaching 
Latin forms in complete paradigms has largely given place 
to the more effective functional method. Almost all of the 
recently published elementary books, for example, make a 
point of presenting in the early lessons only one or two new 
forms in each unit of instruction and of providing abundant 
practice in the use of these forms before additional forms are 
introduced. Finally, the complete paradigm of a noun or 
verb is built up and serves merely as a summary of the forms 
with which the pupil is already familiar and in the use of 
which he has already had considerable experience. 

Unfortunately the comparison of Latin with English fur¬ 
nishes much less help in the learning of Latin forms than in 
the learning of Latin vocabulary. The teacher should, 
however, make full use of whatever inflectional forms are 
preserved in English. For example, the objective case forms 
him , whom , and them can be used in teaching the form and 
use of the accusative singular of Latin nouns and pronouns. 
The third person singular verb form, praises (old style 
praiseth), can be used to teach the form and use of the cor¬ 
responding Latin verb forms ending in -t. The cognate 
English verb form, am, can be used in teaching the corre¬ 
sponding Latin verb forr sum. 

Many of the Latin words and phrases which have been 
brought into English wid be recognized as fairly familiar by 
many eighth and ninth grade pupils and can be effectively 
used in teaching a variety of noun and verb forms. The 


18 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


following list will be suggestive: arbor vitae, Dei gratia, 
exempli gratia, via, ad nauseam, in memoriam, Anno Domini, 
ex officio, in toto, dramatis personae, Deo volente, ex tempore, 
pro tempore, per annum, e pluribus unum, per capita, post 
mortem, viva voce, vice versa, per se, omnibus, in statu quo, 
per diem, sine die, recipe, fac simile, posse, fiat, habeas corpus, 
exeunt. Similarly good use can be made of the full Latin 
forms for which many commonly used abbreviations stand. 
Examples are: e.g., M.D., etc., i.e., N.B., P.S., No., vs. 

It will be observed that the use of such material as that 
indicated in the preceding paragraph offers an excellent 
opportunity to help the pupil to attain Objective 2. 

In teaching Latin plural forms use can be made of familiar 
“naturalized” Latin words which show the Latin plural 
form; for example: alumnae, antennae, formulae, larvae, 
alumni, foci, genii, radii, termini, curricula, data, memoranda, 
strata, aborigines, bases, indices, genera, insignia, species 
(sing, and pi.). 

One serious problem in the use of such teaching materials 
however arises from the fact that these “naturalized” words 
and phrases are pronounced as English words and not as 
Latin words. For example, the word “alumni” (men grad¬ 
uates) is pronounced alum'ni in English and the word 
“ alumnae ” (women graduates) is pronounced alum'ne. 

In teaching the form and use of the present active parti¬ 
ciple, it is helpful to have the pupils bring in from their 
English reading English adjectives derived from Latin 
showing the participle form and meaning: e.g., expectant, 
constant, dominant, observant, resonant, belligerent, consistent, 
intermittent, convenient. 

One of the great advantages in having the pupils become 
familiar with the Latin names of a small list of class-room 
objects as was recommended on page 17 is the frequent use 
which can be made of these objects as concrete illustrations 
in teaching the forms and uses of the various cases. The 

19 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 

use of such material will be greatly facilitated if the pupils 
have also had some training in understanding Latin when 
heard and in giving orally Latin answers to Latin questions 
as recommended on page 15. 

The following Latin questions and answers will illustrate 
how the oral-objective method can be used in teaching and 
drilling on the case forms of the first declension: 

Quid est? Sella est. 

Cujus sella est? Puelloe (or pueri ) sella est. 

Cui puer librum dat? Puelloe puer librum dat. 

Quid (Quern) vides? Sellam (puellam) video. 

Ubi est penna? In area est penna. 

Quo-cum ambulas? Cum puella ambulo. 

Unde cretam capis? Ex area cretam capio. 

Syntax. Much of what has been said above in regard to 
the teaching of inflectional forms applies also to the teaching 
of syntactical principles. Frequent use of oral or written 
sentences illustrating the principle should precede, or, at any 
rate, accompany the formulation or learning of a rule em¬ 
bodying the principle being taught. The teacher should 
also make use of examples of English grammar in which 
the grammatical function of a given word is indicated by its 
form. For example, him , whom, them, her , me, us, furnish 
illustration of the forms of pronouns which are used as direct 
(or indirect) object of a verb and are to be contrasted with 
the nominative forms of these same pronouns (he, who, they, 
she, I, we) which are used as subject of a verb or in the 
predicate. The following sentences illustrate the possibility 
of making effective use of examples in English to teach the 
fact, so important for a roper grasp of Latin syntax, that 
form and function must gree: 

Who is he? 

Whom do you see? I see him. 

He invited Mary and me. 


20 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


Mary and 7 invited him. 

This is the man whom you saw. 

Give me liberty or give me death. 

Whom therefore you ignorantly worship Him declare I unto you. 

In teaching the principle of agreement of adjectives with 
their nouns, of pronouns with their antecedents, and of 
verbs with their subjects, English sentences of the following 
type may be used: 

This kind of books is best. 

Each of us is paying his own expenses. 

It is I who am calling. 

Dust thou art, to dust returnest. 

He prayeth best who loveth best. 

Where I go. he goes. 

In teaching the use of the Latin participle in its direct 
agreement, the teacher may use such a sentence as: “The 
building plans begun by Caesar were carried on by Octavian” 
or he may point out the error in such sentences as: 

Having won the race, a suitable prize was given. 

Prehistoric skulls are found digging a well. 

In teaching the ablative absolute phrase, it is a good plan 
to have the pupils bring in from their English reading sen¬ 
tences containing examples of the nominative independent 
or equivalent loosely related with-phrase, such as: 

“ This done, repair to Pompey’s theatre.” 

“ By the rude bridge that arched the flood, 

Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, 

Here once the embattled farmers stood, 

And fired the shot heard round the world.” 

“ Doth God exact day-labor, light denied ?” 

“The picnic will be held next Saturday, weather permitting.” 

“ With Dallas customers going away for the summer and taking 
their money with them, the number of bad checks received 
daily has jumped almost 100 per cent.” 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 

Certain common uses of the Latin subjunctive (if the sub¬ 
junctive is included in the course) can be illustrated by 
English sentences containing true subjunctive verb-forms 
such as: 

“ This be the verse you grave for me.” 

/ “ Judge not that ye be not judged.” 

“ Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee.” 
s “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 

“My good heart while I live, and my prayers till death to me 
call ” 

“ . . . until death do us part.” 

“ The Lord watch between me and thee.” 1 

It need scarcely be pointed out that the use of such 
English illustrations as those suggested in the preceding 
paragraphs will not only give vitality and clarity to the 
teaching of Latin syntax but will at the same time offer the 
pupil much needed direct assistance in solving some of the 
puzzling problems which he is sure to encounter in English 
grammar and composition (Objectives 4 and 5) and will 
increase the pupils’ ability to understand some of the more 
complex types of English sentence structure. 

In attempting to make use of the pupil’s knowledge of 
English grammar as a means of teaching him Latin grammar, 
the teacher of elementary Latin must bear in mind that the 
average seventh, eighth, or even ninth-grade pupil is likely 
to have only a very hazy idea of what his teacher means by 
such abstruse technical expressions as noun, verb, adjective, 
case, number, gender, person, tense, and voice. The fact 
.. that in Latin the function is regularly indicated by the form 
^ of the word, whereas in English the function is commonly 
not so indicated, is what makes Latin so valuable a means 
of clarifying the pupil’s ideas of English grammar and of 
increasing his ability to speak and write English which is 
grammatically correct. (Objective 4.) 

22 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


As a further means to this end it is obviously desirable 
that the teachers of English and of Latin in a given school 
system should use, as far as it is possible to do so, uniform 
grammatical terminology in the Latin and English classes. 

The translation of Latin into English. Ability to translate 
Latin into good English is commonly recognized as the most 
important and most inclusive immediate objective in the 
study of Latin for two reasons: first, because translation is, 
on the whole, the easiest and simplest method by which the 
teacher can test the pupil’s understanding of a Latin sen¬ 
tence or paragraph; and second, because it is commonly 
believed that practice in turning Latin into English furnishes 
good training in English composition. (Objective 5.) 

When, however, translation into English is made the chief 
if not the only means of testing the pupil’s understanding of 
Latin, there is grave danger that the pupil will acquire the 
habit of making translation (or transposition and trans- 
verbalization) his own method of getting the meaning of 
the Latin sentence or paragraph. This practice leads in¬ 
variably to some such uneconomical method as “finding 
the subject and translating that, then finding the verb and 
translating that, etc.” Instead of this jig-saw puzzle 
method of trying to make over the Latin sentence into Eng¬ 
lish order, pupils should be trained to read and understand 
Latin in the Latin order and to translate into English only 
after a given clause, sentence, or paragraph has been under¬ 
stood in its Latin order and in its relation to what has gone 
before. This method of reading Latin as Latin is of course 
possible only if the pupil has acquired the first and second 
steps described on page 15, namely, the ability to pronounce 
Latin with reasonable accuracy and to read Latin with due 
regard for phrasing and emphasis. 

The teacher should remember also that, while the trans¬ 
lation of Latin into good English is valuable training in 
English composition, the use of so-called translation-English 

23 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


can scarcely be helpful to the pupil’s English, even if it does 
not do it positive injury. It is a good practice, therefore, to 
set for translation only so much of the reading assignment 
as can be checked up, criticised, and, if errors exist, cor¬ 
rected. It is a good plan to have at least some of these ex¬ 
ercises in translation written on the blackboard so as to 
allow the members of the class to share in the criticisms 
and corrections and thus forestall the repetition of certain 
typical errors. The pupil’s understanding of those pas¬ 
sages which are assigned for reading but not for translation 
can be checked up through questions in English on the con¬ 
tent of the passage, through summaries in English, or 
through Latin answers to Latin questions based on the 
passage. 

Oral and Written Composition. The writing of Latin is 
rightly regarded as a valuable means of drilling and testing 
the pupil on his knowledge of Latin vocabulary, forms, 
syntax, and word order. It is desirable that the writing 
of an abundance of simple sentences be required of the 
pupils rather than a lesser amount of more difficult material, 
and that emphasis be placed upon those words, forms, and 
principles of syntax which have been selected for mastery. 

Most if not all of the writing of Latin should be conducted 
/ as a class-room activity under supervision and with the 
opportunity for the pupils to ask questions. Outside assign¬ 
ments of new material in this phase of Latin study is likely 
to lead to discouragement or to dishonest methods in the 
preparation of the work. 

It is well, too, to provide for considerable oral composition 
/ on a given exercise befo’ the pupils are called upon to put 
the Latin into written form. This use of oral composition 
is possible only in class * here pupils have been trained to un¬ 
derstand Latin when spoken and to speak simple Latin with 
some fluency. Errors in oral composition can be corrected 
promptly and many errors in written composition thereby 

24 


THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY LATIN 


prevented. The writing of Latin which is full of errors does 
more harm than good and the correction and revision of 
such papers takes an unwarranted amount of the time of 
both teacher and pupil. 

Latin Word-Order. Word order in Latin is much more 
flexible than in English because the function of a Latin word 
is commonly shown by its form, while the function of an 
English word is commonly shown by its position. Farmers 
love horses does not mean the same as Horses love farmers, 
whereas Equos agricolae amant means practically the same as 
Agricolae equos amant. The only difference, if any, is a mat¬ 
ter of emphasis. 

There are a good many rather difficult questions involved 
in the teaching of Latin word-order and perhaps it is suffi¬ 
cient for the pupil in elementary Latin to learn merely not 
to expect Latin to follow the regular English order in sen¬ 
tence structure, with its subject first, its verb next, and its 
object or predicate noun last. In his oral and written 
composition the pupil should follow in general the rules com¬ 
monly laid down in the books. Considerable feeling for the 
flexibility of Latin word-order can be gained through drill 
in Latin answers to Latin questions, since in Latin answers 
as well as in Latin questions the important word or phrase 
regularly comes first. Examples of “inverted” English like 
the following will be found helpful in this connection: 

Whom did you see? 

Him I saw, her I saw not. 

Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you. 

While the genius of the Latin language in the matter of 
word order seems, on the whole, quite different from that of 
the English language, a pupil will probably come to realize 
from his study of that phase of Latin that the inverted order 
is often the more effective even in English, especially in 
rhetorical or poetical forms of composition. (Objective 5.) 

25 


















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✓ 














✓ 




k 





































































NEW HEATH LATIN SERIES 

Wilbert L. Carr , General Editor 


TO 

PARSONS AND LITTLE 

FIRST LATIN LESSONS 

T O the end of learning to read with under¬ 
standing, the language is presented as a 
medium of expression capable of rousing the 
steady interest of pupils. The reading mat¬ 
ter and illustrations deal with the everyday 
life of the Romans. 

Grammar is presented in simple and logical 
order, with constant practice. The aim of 
these lessons is to present Latin in such an 
interesting way as to transform much of the 
drudgery into a pleasant task and at the same 
time to lay the foundations firm for a future 
reading of the classics. The understanding 
of Latin sentences in the Latin order is 
stressed. The study of several English de¬ 
rivatives is a feature of each lesson. 

This book will be found to conform to the 
findings of many important studies which 
grew out of the American Classical Investiga¬ 
tion, notably, those by Mr. Grise (content 
and method); Miss Woodring (translation); 
Mr. Lindsay (Thorndike’s list). 








NEW HEATH LATIN SERIES 


Wilbert L. Carr , General Editor 

TO 

LITTLE AND PARSONS 

SECOND LATIN LESSONS 

S ECOND Latin Lessons presents continu¬ 
ous easy Latin reading material which 
has been adapted from classical authors and 
is organized so as to furnish a gradual ap¬ 
proach to the reading of the unmodified text 
of Caesar. 

The book provides additional teaching ma¬ 
terial in English on many topics in Roman 
life and ideals, history and geography, litera¬ 
ture and civilization; drill material in Latin 
vocabulary; English and Latin word study, 
Latin forms and syntax; exercises in oral use 
of Latin as a means of fixing vocabulary and 
adding interest and a sense of reality to the 
study of a foreign language. 

The text of Book I of the Gallic War has 
been simplified. Selections from Books II- 
VII preserve the original text and are equiva¬ 
lent in amount to he first four books of the 
Gallic War. The portions between selections 
are summarized in English. 









NEW HEATH LATIN SERIES 

Wilbert L. Carr , General Editor 

TO 

CARR AND HADZSITS’ 

THE LIVING LANGUAGE 


In preparation 


T HE Living Language introduces the pu¬ 
pil to a language that is still in daily use 
in our own English. It is designed for use by 
teachers who wish to make a genuine effort to 
carry out the recommendations in the Report 
of the Classical Investigation. Oral Latin, 
the question-and-answer type of drill, func¬ 
tional grammar instruction, and an emphasis 
of the close relationship of English and Latin 
form the basis of the teaching material. 



OTIS: OUR ROMAN LEGACY 


N exploratory course for ninth-grade 



rY pupils in schools where the Classical In¬ 
vestigation syllabus is followed. Also for any 
junior high-school Latin course. Part One 
is in English and gives a glimpse of literary 
and historical antiquity. Part Two goes far 
enough with Latin to reveal the justification 
for the pupil’s continuing with the subject. 


m 








NEW HEATH LATIN SERIES 

Wilbert L. Carr , General Editor 



VERGIL’S iENEID 

EDITED BY CLYDE PHARR 

In preparation 

N this new edition of the JEneid Professor 
Pharr has attacked the antiquated meth¬ 
ods still in use in learning to read or speak a 
foreign language. Within sight of any given 
passage is printed the whole of its vocabulary, 
making it unnecessary to turn a page to learn 
the meaning of a word. This method does 
not solve the language problem for students, 
but gives them all the requisite data for work¬ 
ing out their own solutions. Students are 
able to read the classic as enjoyable literature; 
to read more extensively and with apprecia¬ 
tion of the thought of the author and of liter¬ 
ary and historical values. 

At the back of the book is a grammatical 
appendix containing all the material neces¬ 
sary for a complete clarification of all Vergil- 
ian constructions. There are numerous and 
varied illustrations, including reproductions 
of paintings by Michel Angelo, Burne-Jones, 

Guerin, Deutsch, and Professor E. Forti. 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


0 
























